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Eddie Bravo: Nick Diaz Will Go Down as One of the Greatest MMA Fighters Ever

There are many sources of wisdom throughout the MMA community which can explain to the fans exactly who and what it is that they are seeing. The fans in MMA are extremely knowledgeable, yet at times to hear a true master qualify certain opinions reassu…

There are a lot of MMA enthusiasts, both fans and critics of Nick Diaz who are left wondering just exactly what to expect from this destroyer who has found his way home to the UFC. In his first fight back, Diaz did something that no other fighter on the planet has ever done before: He absolutely decimated B.J. Penn.

Even in stopping Penn almost three years ago, Georges St. Pierre did not punish him like Nick Diaz did this past weekend. Many thought Diaz vs Penn would be a scrap, but few truly believed it would be such a one-sided affair.

What Diaz did to Penn has been par for the course across his last 12 fights. The 13th was a doctor stoppage due to a cut. The man has been scrapping and scrapping hard for four years without losing a fight.

People point to strength of schedule as the clear asterisk lying next to the run Nick Diaz has been on. They will tell you he hasn’t beat a sound top 10 welterweight across that run he has so decisively thrown down.

Well, that all changed at UFC 137. B.J. Penn is clearly not the fighter he once was, but to say he is not one of the most dangerous welterweights in the world is ridiculous. Jon Fitch is considered one of the best, and B.J. recently fought him to to a draw, and UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes can tell you all about the dynamite in Penn’s hands.

Nick Diaz tuned B.J. Penn up; there are no two ways about it. So all that talk about lesser opponents is for the birds now. And the stakes are only raised now that he has called out UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and been granted yet another opportunity by Dana White to face GSP.

So it is understandable why Nick Diaz is the talk of the town right now. He barged back into the UFC, retired a legend and called out a champion. All the while leaving that sliver of fear in the spine of anyone who considers GSP the unstoppable force his reputation says he is.

So with all that in mind, leave it to an MMA legend to slide in and share his take to clarify just how effective and truly dangerous Nick Diaz is. Allow a guy who has made MMA, and Jiu Jitsu in relation to MMA, his life’s work to shed some light on the subject.

For those who still aren’t clear on what exactly it was they saw last weekend, or what they can expect moving forward from Nick Diaz, please allow Mr. Eddie Bravo to clarify the situation for you. Bravo recently opened up to Todd Jackson of Hurtsbad MMA on a number of topics, of course Diaz being one of the top issues they discussed.

Bravo lit up when he began to share his opinions on the former Strikeforce welterweight champ, and now current UFC No. 1 welterweight contender, all due respect to Carlos Condit, of course.

Bravo sounded genuinely convinced in his conviction about Diaz, and explained exactly why he sees him as one of the best fighters this sport will ever see.

Bravo told Hurtsbad MMA, “I have never seen anybody, and I don’t think there has ever been anybody like Nick Diaz in all of MMA. Can you tell me another guy who is going to stand right in front of you, take big shots, and still keep coming at you with those body shots and those amazing combinations? I have never seen anybody else do it like that; who else does it like that?”

To answer the question, in this day and age of MMA, nobody. Even in the glory days when guys just banged, it was a rarity. Diaz is a finger print in his approach without a doubt.

The 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu mastermind went on to say, “You see little flurries every now and then like that. But Nick Diaz does that all the time. He just goes in there and goes right through people. He just keeps getting better and better.”

Diaz has always carried a unique style of striking to compliment his world class ground game. The style resembles a crane with its wings outstretched, only this crane has steel balls at the end of its wings and jams them in the face of its opponents. At first glance, feathers don’t hurt, but they damn sure add up.

Eddie explained it like this. “Those little pitter pat shots, they used to be really weak back in the day. But he has added a lot of power to those little pitter pat shots. He picks his shots. He sets you up with those little shots, and boom. He has got some big power now.”

Nowhere was that more apparent than his performance against legendary striker B.J. Penn last weekend, which again, caught a lot of fight fans off guard, Eddie Bravo included, and it left an impression for him to make a bold statement.

He told Todd Jackson, “I have never seen anyone do that to B.J. Penn. I don’t think anybody can stand with Nick Diaz, not anymore. I think over the last couple years Nick Diaz has taken his striking to some serious levels. I think anybody that is going to stand with Nick Diaz and try to throw down, that is a big mistake.”

When Bravo looks at the entire package of Diaz, his striking is the key, but the combination of Diaz the ground specialist and Diaz the striker brings Bravo to a very simple yet strong conclusion about Diaz’s place in MMA history.

He explained, “He has got tremendous cardio; he can just keep going with those flurries. He doesn’t get tired, he just keeps throwing them. Nick Diaz is going to go down as one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, no doubt.”

Bravo added one final qualifying explanation as to why he feels that way. “You can’t create that. You can’t create Nick Diaz. That guy has some serious warrior spirit or something. In another life, that guy was f#@$%&g Genghis Khan or something.”

When a legend like Eddie Bravo puts it like that, honestly, fight fans, how can you argue with a statement like that?

This article originally featured at Hurtsbad MMA. To hear this interview in its entirety visit The Truth Hurts Radio Show. Follow me on Twitter @hurtsbadmma.

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Carlos Condit vs. Josh Koscheck Likely for UFC’s Super Bowl Weekend Card

(Yeah…whatever happened to that guy, anyway?)

Carlos Condit is going to have to re-earn his title shot the hard way. After his slated fight against George St. Pierre went up in smoke as quickly as it was handed to him, Condit is now likely to return at UFC 143: St. Pierre vs. Diaz (February 4th, Las Vegas) against perennial welterweight contender Josh Koscheck. UFC president Dana White discussed the matchup at the Leben vs. Munoz post-event press conference:

“Right now, Carlos wants to fight. He wants to fight on the same card as GSP and Diaz, so we’ll see what happens. Koscheck has been offered (the fight).”

(Yeah…whatever happened to that guy, anyway?)

“Right now, Carlos wants to fight. He wants to fight on the same card as GSP and Diaz, so we’ll see what happens. Koscheck has been offered (the fight).”

And by all appearances, Koscheck has accepted it, telling Twitter: “Yep, when I talk….. i get… Feb 4th weekend Vegas I will be fighting!!!!!!!!!!! Thx you DW!”

Koscheck began pre-emptively trash-talking Condit last week, saying that Condit has “0 chance” to beat him, dropping some nasty puns on Condit’s manager, and arguing that the Natural Born Killer doesn’t deserve his top ten ranking. Condit hasn’t publicly responded to the barbs yet, but we expect that to change now that he’s been booked in the co-main event of the UFC’s Super Bowl Weekend card.

As of now, the only other supporting bout reported for UFC 143 is a lightweight clash between Joe Lauzon and Anthony Pettis.

GSP vs. Silva: St-Pierre’s Weight Issue Is Just an Excuse

If UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre doesn’t mind taking the proper steps to essentially putting his Welterweight days behind him en route to a superfight with UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, why is he so reluctant to do it?Even fan…

Even fans of St-Pierre have to ask themselves that question, because every time they turn around, it seems like his weight is always something of an issue when it comes time to talk about Silva.

St-Pierre has said in the past that he walks around at close to 190 pounds, so he’s naturally a pretty undersized Light Heavyweight in respect to weight, and we all know that Silva walks around as a Heavyweight when he’s not cutting down to Middleweight.

The reason why Silva is not at all drained from the cut when he’s healthy (meaning he comes into a fight with slight soreness at worst) is because when Silva cuts weight, he does everything he needs to do to ensure that he’ll be able to fight competitively at the Middleweight or Light Heavyweight level.

So, if Silva can cut weight properly to make Middleweight for all but the two fights he’s had in his UFC run, and if SIlva could easily win every single fight with no problems—aside from the Chael Sonnen fight—then what is stopping St-Pierre from putting up instead of shutting up and trying to do the same at Middleweight?

It’s understood that even a fighter with an ectomorph-type physique like St Pierre—that is, a fighter who always will look like an animal no matter what weight he fights at—has some bit of trouble packing on the poundage needed to compete well at a higher weight class. However, St-Pierre says he still wouldn’t mind packing on the fifteen extra pounds as long as he’s given the time to do it and as long as neither he nor Silva is lined up for a fight in that allotted time frame.

Should Silva face and defeat Sonnen in a rematch, followed likely by the winner of Michael Bisping vs. Jason Miller as well as a potential Middleweight summit meeting opposite the winner of either Chris Leben vs. Mark Munoz, perhaps St-Pierre might get his wish.

Wins over UFC 143 foe Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit would leave St-Pierre with no other options, aside from atrocious mismatches against guys that have not yet earned any business opposite St-Pierre.

The same goes for Silva’s next options if he should tear through the few challenges he has left at 185, but if St-Pierre really wants this to go down, he’s going to have to suck it up about the whole “weight issue” thing.

The issue isn’t whether St-Pierre could make the weight or not, because he cuts to make weight and has had little trouble so far.

The issue is actually pretty two-fold. First, there’s the already-established case of the rather thin UFC Welterweight and Middleweight title pictures, but we already know how that goes.

The second issue is what makes the whole thing puzzling and that issue revolves around St-Pierre’s unwillingness to move up in weight, despite admitting that he had no problem taking the time he needed to put on the weight.

We’re fine with waiting nine months for St-Pierre to pack on as much weight as he needs to be competitive at 185, but the fact that he always seems to point the weight issue as if it is really such a detriment for him to properly do it even though he claims to know how…well, that leads us back to our original question:

If St-Pierre is confident that he can properly put on the weight he needs to become a legitimate Middleweight and pose a true threat to Silva, why is he so reluctant to do it?

Is it because he still has Diaz and Condit chasing him while Sonnen still stalks Silva? Is it because St-Pierre really doesn’t know how to properly stay at 185 without the Dolce Diet? Or is it just possible that St-Pierre is downplaying the weight cut because he is not 100 percent sure that he could beat Silva even with a successful jump in weight?

Whatever it is, St-Pierre needs to stop running scared of a the aftereffects of a jump in weight and give it a shot if he should get past Diaz and Condit.

After all, it’s almost a certainty that St-Pierre really does look out of place at 185, but what if he doesn’t?

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Cesar Gracie: Nick Diaz Was Told to Call out Georges St-Pierre

Although he was preparing to face BJ Penn last weekend at UFC 137, the only opponent who Nick Diaz was focused on was Georges St-Pierre. During his post-fight interview, Diaz proceeded to call out the UFC welterweight champion. It turns out, Diaz …

Although he was preparing to face BJ Penn last weekend at UFC 137, the only opponent who Nick Diaz was focused on was Georges St-Pierre.

During his post-fight interview, Diaz proceeded to call out the UFC welterweight champion. It turns out, Diaz had every intention of doing so.

Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, was a special guest on “The MMA Show” with Mauro Ranallo, and he revealed that both him and his client were instructed by UFC matchmaker Joe Silva to call out the champion.

“Before the fight, after the weigh-ins, we were told by Joe Silva, ‘If you guys want it, you guys call people out. That’s how the fights get done,'” Gracie said.

Diaz claimed that St-Pierre was faking his injury to purposely pull out of his bout with Carlos Condit, who was favoured over Diaz after he failed to appear at some media tours to promote the event. Shortly after, St-Pierre would opt to face Diaz instead of Condit, personally requesting a title bout to UFC President Dana White.

Gracie said he wanted to make sure Diaz was comfortable calling out St-Pierre.

“When I speak to Nick, I have to speak in ‘209ese’ and that’s the language he understands,” he said. “That was directed at him, I didn’t think he was going to hear it obviously.”

With Diaz’s title shot secure, it is expected his bout against St-Pierre will be scheduled for Super Bowl weekend on February 4th.

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Dana White: Are Fans Being Hypocrites in GSP, Diaz and Condit Situation?

The month of October was a roller-coaster ride for an unsuspecting passenger in Carlos Condit.His opportunity to achieve a lifelong goal of being a UFC champion was taken away twice in the same month.It’s almost like fate has some twisted agenda of toy…

The month of October was a roller-coaster ride for an unsuspecting passenger in Carlos Condit.

His opportunity to achieve a lifelong goal of being a UFC champion was taken away twice in the same month.

It’s almost like fate has some twisted agenda of toying with Condit’s emotions and throwing them back in his face.

Condit first emerged into the welterweight title picture when former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz lost his opportunity to challenge Georges St-Pierre, after missing two scheduled pre-fight press conferences for UFC 137.

With Diaz out of the championship bout, UFC President Dana White appointed Condit, who was coming off impressive performances over tough opposition, as the new No. 1 contender for the UFC title.

“Um, I was blown away [that I got the shot], I got pretty emotional. I started to tear up, which was pretty awesome because I was in public. I had to try to compose myself thinking of all the hard work that got me to this point,” Condit reminisced in an exclusive interview with Buddhasport.

Unfortunately, the excitement didn’t last long. An injury sustained in training forced St-Pierre to withdraw from the card a couple of weeks leading up to the fight.

While this was devastating news to Condit, Diaz’s camp saw a golden opportunity to leap frog back into the contender’s seat. After being yanked from the main event, Diaz would still be competing on the UFC 137 fight card, but instead of St-Pierre, he would face another MMA legend in B.J. Penn.

With St-Pierre out and the main event scrapped, the Diaz-Penn bout was bumped from co-main event to headliner of the entire fight card.

If Diaz impressed in his performance against a fighter of Penn’s caliber, he could present a strong case to bypass Condit and get a crack at the world title.

Still, White pretty much assured the MMA world that Condit would still be the top contender regardless of the outcome of the Diaz and Penn bout.

“Condit’s in,” White told MMAJunkie. “Condit is sitting and waiting.”

It’s amazing how quickly things can turn around in the sport.

Diaz impressed in his performance against Penn, picking the legendary fighter apart in the second and third rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Even though Diaz put on a tremendous performance, it was his words after the fight that put the final nail in the coffin of Condit’s world title aspirations.

“Where you at Georges? Where you at mother (expletive)?” yelled Diaz. “I don’t think Georges is hurt, I think he’s scared. I think he’s scared to fight everybody right now.”

The entire MMA world looked on as St-Pierre fumed at Diaz’s taunts and accusations. Condit was quickly slipping from the title picture, and in a matter of seconds, the world was now consumed with the infatuation of a potential grudge match between St-Pierre and Diaz.

In other words, Diaz proposed a fight that both the UFC and fans couldn’t resist.

“Nick needs motivation. He’s got it. He’s going to fight Georges St-Pierre,” White said at the UFC 137 post-fight press conference.

“Carlos Condit has agreed to step aside and get the next guy. [St-Pierre] said, I quote, ‘[Diaz] is the most disrespectful human being I’ve ever met, and I’m going to put the worst beating you’ve ever seen on him in the UFC.'”

While the world rejoiced at the announcement of a St-Pierre and Diaz superfight, Condit sat quietly in disbelief.

Who steps aside and turns down an opportunity to fight for the UFC title?

Not Carlos Condit, according to his manager Malki Kawa.

“Contrary to what has been stated, Carlos did not step aside to allow this to happen, and would not just hand over an opportunity for him to achieve his greatest career goal, one that he has earned through strong performances in the Octagon. No option was given to him,” Kawa said in a statement issued to Inside MMA.

On the outside, it’s easy to point fingers at White for going back on his word and giving Diaz the title shot. The UFC is a business, and its job is to put on the fights fans want to see.

The interesting fact is that the vast majority of fans pointing fingers want to see St-Pierre face Diaz over Condit.

This is a tough break for Condit, who is well-worthy of a UFC title shot. In such an unpredictable sport, these kind of opportunities are lucky to be seen once in a lifetime.

Still, there is no right or wrong in this situation. Condit was promised a shot at the title, and he has every right to be upset. The UFC’s motto is putting on the big fights fans want to see, and it’s hard to argue against the blockbuster possibilities of a St-Pierre and Diaz showdown.

As for Condit, he can take positives away from this unfortunate situation. This will give him even more time to polish his skills and take his fight game to another level.

It isn’t the belt that makes the legend. Some fighters have held the coveted UFC title in their days, and only a few fans can recall their careers. It’s all about the matchups, which Condit should have no problem finding in the incredibly-stacked welterweight division.

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UFC 138: The 7 Most Important Foreign Countries in UFC History

“One country to rule them all, One country to find them, One country to bring them all and in the darkness bind them!”The UFC has made a point of becoming a multinational organization and the United Kingdom’s UFC 138 is just one step towards that goal….

“One country to rule them all, One country to find them, One country to bring them all and in the darkness bind them!”

The UFC has made a point of becoming a multinational organization and the United Kingdom’s UFC 138 is just one step towards that goal.

However, some foreign nations that the UFC has frequented were more important than others in the grand scheme of things, and one was more important than all of them!

Which foreign country was the most important? Does the UK top the list due to its fueling of the UFC’s global expansion. What about Canada’s love of the UFC? Does that make them the most important country? Or does Japan take the number one slot due to essentially creating MMA with pancrase and shooto?

The most important one may surprise you. What is it? Read and find out!

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